


Third (is not the charm)

by Kestrad



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-09
Updated: 2011-11-09
Packaged: 2017-10-25 21:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/274917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kestrad/pseuds/Kestrad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He regrets it later, but doesn't let anyone know. It would be weak to be inconsistent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Third (is not the charm)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt on [MorriganFearn](http://morriganfearn.livejournal.com)'s meme: "Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 is after 8 and 9."

She is a thing of beauty, is China's first thought when he sees her.

Vietnam is proud, strong, graceful. As a man China wants nothing more than to win her affection; as a nation he longs to possess her. But she remains forever at the edge of his control, dancing just out of his reach.

Years pass; the dance floor shrinks. The entire world weaves complicated steps with each other. Sometimes the dances are deadly.

Fate has thrown him together with her again and again in the past century. China is given the chance to possess her, once. He remembers her as she once was, independent and fierce, and shakes his head. He wants her to choose him willingly.

She dances away from him again after a few years. He strikes her, bitterness boiling in his heart.

He regrets it later, but doesn't let anyone know. It would be weak to be inconsistent.

*

Germany is young and vibrant and polite when he comes calling, and China is old and wracked with too many ailments to count. Germany is one kind word among a sea of harsh demands; China wants to feel young again. Cooperation is only natural.

They have their share of disagreements. Some are small. Some can only be settled with fists and guns. But Germany returns each time, and China never turns him away. At some point he acquires a new uniform. China wonders why a symbol from Indian temples adorns his sleeve and decides not to ask.

Sometimes their fingers brush together as Germany shows China a new plane design; sometimes his touch lingers a moment longer than necessary as he trains China to fight.

All this meant nothing, China thinks later as he stares at the tip of Japan's blade. Germany stands beside Japan. He has the decency to look away.

*

America is so very young, naive and vibrant and fiercely cocky with independence.

China runs calloused fingers over the flowers left on his doorstep before throwing them away.

**Author's Note:**

> At the end of WWII, Chiang Kai-Shek was offered control of Indochina, but he refused. Later, during the Vietnam War, territorial disputes and various other tensions led to a Chinese invasion of Vietnam in the Sino-Vietnamese War.
> 
> Before WWII, Germany and China had trade and military cooperations going on. Once the second Sino-Japanese war broke out, though, Germany withdrew from China, having thrown its faith into its alliance with Japan.
> 
> According to Wikipedia, "The Sino-American relationship has been described by top leaders and academics as the world's most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century."


End file.
